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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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When I first found porn online the digicam era was not here. The pictures looked very staged, as if the subjects had to hold artistic poses while the cameraman clicked. Film is expensive, after all!
Today the digicam means that they can move freely and the camera catches all, and 99.9% of the images can be discarded.
Is this really so, or is it just that fashion has changed?
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Interesting question I thought when I read it. So, why not ask someone who actually would be able to frame a knowledgeable response? Here's some input from two gentlemen, both of who are still actively involved in the adult entertainment industry.
I posed Tim's question first to British born Aiden Shaw. I had done an in-store interview with Aiden in December of 2009 at a book signing for his latest published work.
[ Brief Bio ] Adult film legend Aiden Shaw is the author of the bestselling memoir, 'My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography, and Prostitution.
Born in London, Shaw eventually ended up in Los Angeles, California, where he was discovered by the gay adult film director and industry sensation Ch Chi La Rue. Since the early 1980's Shaw has appeared in over 60 Gay Adult films and has also continued to work as a highly paid escort. Shaw currently resides in New York.
Aiden told me that Tim is absolutely correct and added that because of the editing software additionally available, its made it possible to be vastly more creative and in his opinion, more erotic and sensuous.
Okay, that's from the 'old school' as Aiden is in his 40's. Next, I emailed Tim's question to Sean Lockhart, a 23 year Gay adult film actor better known by his stage name of Brent Corrigan. As it was an impossibly early hour of the morning in San Diego where he resides, I didn't expect an answer back till much later today or possibly even tomorrow.
Surprising me was his rather quick response which was a "definite yes." Apparently he was up all night and as it was Saturday, I guess he was out clubbing or "something." I didn't ask. His abbreviated explanation was that the photographers were able to take a massive amount, sort them out, and then chose the best of the lot. He said he often assists in that effort.
[ Brief Bio ] Sean Lockhart is a gay pornographic actor best known under his stage name Brent Corrigan. Lockhart started his career in pornography in 2004 at Cobra Video, as a young 'twink' model. In September 2005, Lockhart made the claim that he falsified his identification documents to make his first films, being under-age when these were filmed. This public statement resulted in many of his films to be pulled from distribution channels while concerns of pedo-pornography in many legal jurisdictions in the United States and abroad are settled. Lockhart now heads up his own production company and enjoys writing in his spare time.
So, there you have what I feel are relatively qualified "expert" answers to your question Tim.
[ Photos: Sean Lockhart & Aiden Shaw ]
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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There are two other things I've noticed. One is a demographic, the other is the pose. I think the pose goes directly to the answer about more erotic and more sensuous. It may even be to do with digital editing.
Older pictures show flaccid penises far more than erect, and those penises, even when erect, tend not to be beautiful, they are simply "here is my erect dick". Where there is body hair today it is often trimmed, in the past the body hair was often rampant.
There is also a load of historic "Here is my anus" shots with cheeks parted and the arse stuck into your face.
These seem to be saying "I am about raw sex. This is about FUCKING" and it's very rare that there's any attempt of showing an erotic liaison instead of a fuck.
The demographic element reflects the increasing movement in the USA not to mutilate the genitals of baby boys. Whatever one feels about the aesthetics of a penis, an intact man can withdraw his foreskin and look as though he is cut if he so wishes.
Obviously the older US stars got what they were given, but there seems either to be more Europeanisation of porn, or the cult of the cut is truly dying.
[Updated on: Sun, 14 February 2010 22:45]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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A little "off topic" here, but i have to say that Sean or Brent Corrigan as i know him, is a gorgeous boy. ;-D. One of my favorite porn stars.
You don't love someone because they are beautiful, they are beautiful because you love them.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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There seems to be a trend to normal penis size. Dickus Maximus seems to be passé nowadays. Biggus Dickus no longer wanks the highest in Wome.
This means that I, as a guy with less than average size, some of which is due to unpleasant surgery, feel comfortable looking at these guys.
[Updated on: Mon, 15 February 2010 23:07]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Macky
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Really getting into it |
Location: USA
Registered: November 2008
Messages: 973
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Definitely porn is different today. 20 years ago, it was all about showing nasty raw sex. I think it has progressed into showing more than sex now. It shows cute. It tries to show personality. If a guy is not my type at all, but he sports a genuine smile, I enjoy looking at him.
When couples are shown, it captures more of the playfulness and camaraderie between the guys. I think a lot of this comes from having amateurs as models and a guy who knows what he's doing behind the digital camera. Sites like Corbin Fisher and Sean Cody recruit their models at colleges and universities. They're just kids picking up a few extra bucks, not seasoned world wise models. They enjoy the novelty and they enjoy the naughty nature of the thing, and of course they enjoy the money and I just find that cut and adorable.
Facial expressions, smiles, gestures...all that stuff. We have a kinder gentler porn. One that is almost suitable for sale at Walmart.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Ps 133:1 NASB
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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I found a site today that means that I'm revisiting this thread:
http://vintagetwinks.com/ shows much more stylised work. It's also rare indeed to see a foreskin. It's also rare to see full penetration.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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JimB
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Likes it here |
Registered: December 2006
Messages: 349
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I missed this thread when it originated in February. I found Brody's post very interesting but noted that most of the comments have been about professional porn. I think the biggest impact that digital photography has made, both still and video, is the addition of a large about of amateur porn. Also the quality of the images has improved because of both digital cameras improving and the absence of conversion from film to VHS or DVD.
As an amateur photographer I can attest to the drastic reduction in cost. Taking pictures costs me nearly nothing today (basically only the electricity to recharge my batteries). On my last vacation I took over 800 pictures at virtually no cost versus hundreds of dollars for non-digital. Printing pictures is not cheap even with my own printer, but still far less than with film, chemicals and standard photo paper.
JimB
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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Your point about amateur porn is well made. I was confining the original thoughts to professional "pay for porn" simply because the amateur porn market was pretty much restricted to self developers and printers. Take porn to a commercial processor and you were and are at risk of prosecution, depending upon the type. In the UK an image of an erect penis was unlawful until=relatively recently, for example.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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To illustrate this, have a look at http://fagvintage.tumblr.com/ which shows 80s and 90s gay porn. Some of this is enough to make me want to be heterosexual!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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I looked at every page on this historical assembly of gay porn and felt quite perturbed. That type of picture made me afraid to be a gay man, and made me afraid of gay men. I observed very little gentleness in any of the pictures.
I wonder if the US Republican party's institutionalised hatred of homosexuals, in which I include that pleasant gentleman who emailed me, comes down to the fear of gay men I felt when looking at the pictures? It's as good a hypothesis as any.
I did see one, only one, intact penis. The others were obviously not temporary retractions. They look to me to be hugely flared heads caused by the 'high and tight' fashion for US circumcision. It looks to have created a brutal penis rather than an erotic instrument of enjoyable physical sensations.
Look at today's porn (actually tumblr is a good place to find it) and see the difference. WHat do you see? I've said what I see.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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... the photographs reproduced on the web-site you quote (and by extension, a number of others linked there-in-to) are actually taken during the 1960's and 1970's ... very few of those shown being from either the 1980's or 1990's, with my having gone back a goodly number of pages before finding one.
As a collection of images they are fairly representative of "in-print" pornography from the period, at least within North America during the time periods in question.
Unlike the imagery of today which is all-too often over-processed with professionally styled, manicured, and buffed models, those from the 1960's and 1970's (including the one labelled "Playgirl" Discovery) are largely shaggy-haired, often hirsute, rather rugged males ... not a pampered and primped "pretty-boy" in sight. These earlier images reflected the norm, the typical everyday ordinary man, neither overbearingly handsome, nor a disaster either ... more often than not of the variety "rough trade gone urban chic".
Too, a greater majority of the imagery posted on this web-site are "production stills", photos take during the actual filming of a pornographic feature ... almost like a screen-capture if you will, rather than a purposefully posed image ... and there were many of those taken during the period too, often as -not used for advertising materials related to the release and distribution of the feature film they were taken from. The glossy and pulp-magazine business of the day thrived (and depended) upon their production and release.
Personally, when it comes right down to it, if I'm going to look at porn, whether it being of the still or moving variety, I as often as not would rather view the "vintage" (often pre-condom) varietals rather than the contemporary offerings. Back then men were men and boys were boys, and seldom, if ever at all did they meet, contrary to popular myth about about pederasty and it's ilk.
A really, really, good web-site that deals with "Vintage" LGBTQ Pornography, and it's effects (sic. influence) on the media, I suggest the following:
http://vintagegaymediahistory.blogspot.com/
Here you will find all the usual jack-off shit; but, buried in and amongst it all is a wealth of information and knowledge about the industry and it's workings during the earliest years. I have spent many a fascinated hour or two at a time fingering my way through its pages.
Another, this one a data-base, catalogues just about everything that is known about any gay pornographic film since the 1940's, often with cover-art and posters from the period each was in release whether that be 8-MM or 16-MM film, vidéo-tape or digicam or direct-to-DvD. As a "hobby" volunteer-driven endeavour (until recently) this web-site is truly an amazing achievement:
http://www.gayeroticvideoindex.com/
As a referral service servicing the "Male" Web-site/Blog environments, none can top this one. Here you find male-driven sites in every possible combination imaginable, and I heartily suggest each and everyone bookmark it for your day-today reference and use:
http://www.bestmaleblogs.com/
Lastly, as little as five-years ago there was a dearth of substantive information posted to the web related to the earliest pornography (whether that be LGBTQ or Heterosexual in nature) and I'm referring to historical detail, including names, dates, promotional imagery and what-not ... yes the movies were out there if you knew how and where to find them; but, concrete information about the why's and wherefore's was hard to come by. What started out as a few hobby-driven initiatives to post and feature stills from the earliest films has blossomed into a cornucopia of vintage imagery. Hobbyists have been digitizing glossy- and pulp-magazine imagery from the earliest days in what must represent a flood of visual delights, the majority of which are not suitable masturbation fodder; but, rather an interesting peek into the erotic lives of North American households from 5- 6- or 7-decades ago. From half-a-dozen, at best, blogs and web-sites we now are able to choose from over 500 similarly themed sites world-wide, in a plethora of languages and topics, themes and fetishes. Truly remarkable I think, and absolutely awesome!
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada
[Updated on: Wed, 18 January 2012 04:20]
"... comme recherché qu'un délice callipygian"
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13750
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You're almost certainly correct. I was taking the blog owner as knowing what he was talking about, but you are much more likely to be accurate 
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Re: With digital cameras... 2 Qualified Responses for Tim: 
Ah the poses of the 80s and 90s 
What observations do you have? 
